In today’s art landscape, museums are more than exhibition venues. They’re space for community building, education, and experimentation. For New Museum Deputy Director Isolde Brielmaier and Salome Asega, Director of NEW INC—the institution’s cultural incubator—collaboration is the key to expanding the organization's multi-faceted purpose. From hosting panel discussions to setting up workshops for creative entrepreneurs, NEW INC’s nurturing of creative thinkers melds seamlessly with the museum’s rich programming. “Our professional development curriculum supports the whole person,” Asega explains. “We start each session with a grounding meditation, but we also have sessions on business and legal fundamentals.”
An artist, researcher, and educator who taught in the Parsons MFA Design and Technology program, Asega is a natural leader for the 10-year-old program. “I grew up in a family of engineers,” she says. “I thought I wanted to be the farthest thing from that, so I pursued becoming an artist.” As an undergraduate student at NYU, Asega’s imagined boundary between art and technology dissolved while testing a video game her uncle designed. Today, her practice includes emerging technology.
“My path wasn’t a straight one either,” Brielmaier chimes in noting that she started out as a dancer before becoming a curator and art historian who has worked at the Guggenheim Museum and the Bronx Museum of Art, among others. “Early on, I began spending time around artists who not only wanted to hone their craft, but were committed to engaging in critical conversations and paying it forward. This really inspired me to do the same.” In the classroom, enriching conversations that prompt an exchange of ideas and encourage brave conversations also serve as inspiration. “It’s such a sweet moment when you see a light bulb go off for a student in the middle of a discussion.”
A strong social impact element also pervades Asega’s work. “I want to make black boxed tools that are developing quickly accessible to people who don't quite know how they work,” she explains, stressing her responsibility in the space. “I want not just joy and abundance for myself, but for my people too. I’ve learned that it’s about decentering myself and focusing on the ‘we’.”
Isolde and Salome’s Dream Syllabus
“This exhibition was a rare instance in which an artist, in this case a Black woman, had the opportunity to take over the entire museum. It brought together decades of Wangechi’s work which spans sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, film, and more. Her projects are very intensely research based. There are a number of essays in the catalog where she engages with topics like women and gender, post-colonialism and neo-colonialism, power and privilege, health and community. She comes at it from a very global perspective, so it’s relevant no matter where you are.” - Isolde Brielmaier
“Isabel Wilkerson’s book ‘Caste’ is about inequality and discrimination through the lens of this age-old and global concept of caste. She unpacks it in a very lyrical, poetic way to demonstrate that the notion of caste—hidden human rankings—exists in every society, focusing specifically on America. I love taking a multimedia approach in the classroom. This biographical film by the brilliant, luminous Ava Duvernay is a great way to follow Wilkerson’s own process of discovery through the joys and triumphs of her own life. It also really reflects Ava’s deep belief in collaborating with diverse writers and the actors. She's a master storyteller.” - Isolde Brielmaier
“When I was a Mellon Foundation curatorial fellow at the Tang Teaching Museum, which is on the Skidmore campus in Upstate New York, I wanted to do something outside of the curatorial realm. I proposed moderating a series of dialogues, around three people in conversation about a particular social, economic, or political issue. Most of these folks are artists, scholars, and activists, but I really wanted to highlight the fact that while culture workers have their own craft or business, they’re also engaged in the world. In this book, we get into topics from migration and mass incarceration to feminism and food scarcity.” - Isolde Brielmaier
“This compendium is edited by a curator and art historian Anita Bateman and architect Emanuel Admassu. They’re both interested in celebrating contemporary African artists, within the continent and in the diaspora. It explores their modes for art making, community building, experimentation, and emphasizes how artists are in dialogue with culturally-specific forms of art making. They're showing the breadth of what is coming from the continent. I spoke about a couple of my past projects in an interview for volume one.” - Salome Asega
“The ultimate goal of ‘Software for Artists Book’ is to question things that feel cemented in the world and imagine new futures. If we’re audacious enough, we can build new machines, new structures, and new systems. Each chapter highlights an artist or activist who's working towards that goal. I speak about how I employ participatory design in my projects as an artist. It allows me to build partnerships and find other organizations who are asking the same questions I am. Ultimately, I want the people who witness the work to be part of the process of creating it from the beginning.” - Salome Asega